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Don’t worry Phillipa and friends! “Whom” is actually slated to become archaic pretty soon (but it will happen in American English first, sorry kids). In fact, linguistics studies show that most native English speakers, no matter which dialect/vernacular, don’t know how to use “whom” prescriptively. But, two nice cheater’s tricks for those in need of proper grammar:
If you have a preposition before it (of, on, in, to, for, and so on), it’s a safe bet that it should be “whom.”
Also, pronouns can help you decide which to use.
I/she/he/they = who
me/her/him/them = whom
(its called the he/him trick, because him and whom both have “m” so it’s easy to remember).
A neat trick I learned in school is to replace “who/whom” with “he/him.”
If you would use “he,” you use “who.” ex: Who did this? He did this.
If you would use “him” instead, used “whom.” ex: Whom are you writting the letter for? I’m writting the letter for him.
Just remember the “M.” If you would use “hiM” from the answer, you would use “whoM” for the question.
Sometimes you just have to be grateful they don’t do it with “you” … otherwise we’d be even more confused deciding if we needed to say “you” or “youm” …
There are some people who say “youm” is a place in Manchester (Hulme is sometimes pronounced Youm)
I mostly know how to use “whom”– but there are cases where the rules seem to break down. Is it “I want to marry whoever will make me the most happy,” or “I want to marry whomever will make me the most happy?” “Who” is used for subjects (people who are doing something) and “whom” is used for objects (people who are having something done to them). The person who will make me the most happy is both an object and a subject in that sentence.
It’s kind of like the question of whether you should say “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” or “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Either one seems wrong, because the sentence is trying to merge the two ideas “He is without sin” and “Let him cast the first stone,” which use different forms of the pronoun.
Anyway, Colin’s lucky he doesn’t speak German. In German, there are three options: “who” is “wer,” and “whom” is either “wen” or “wem.” In fact, every pronoun has not only two forms (like “he” and “him”) but three (“er,” “ihn” and “ihm.”) Which one you use depends not only on object vs subject, but also which verb you’re using, and sometimes which prepositions.
Aww. You guys have no idea how much this kind of confessions compliment us non-natives! I’ve studied hard to learn the grammar and yay, language shows once again it’s true nature of constant change. (OMG I actually know how to use a structure that is to-be archaic! <3)
… Oh my. Colin has a point! I have no idea how to use it either. WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER COLIN!!
Don’t worry Phillipa and friends! “Whom” is actually slated to become archaic pretty soon (but it will happen in American English first, sorry kids). In fact, linguistics studies show that most native English speakers, no matter which dialect/vernacular, don’t know how to use “whom” prescriptively. But, two nice cheater’s tricks for those in need of proper grammar:
If you have a preposition before it (of, on, in, to, for, and so on), it’s a safe bet that it should be “whom.”
Also, pronouns can help you decide which to use.
I/she/he/they = who
me/her/him/them = whom
(its called the he/him trick, because him and whom both have “m” so it’s easy to remember).
<3 your resident linguist
You saved me. Thank you
I <3 YOU (& linguistics)!
I searched this when I was writing a paper too, it's to have remembers. ^^
my mind is exploding, i dont understand any of it except the first two panels x.x
yes ‘whom’ is a word impossible to used
“to whom it may concern”
A neat trick I learned in school is to replace “who/whom” with “he/him.”
If you would use “he,” you use “who.” ex: Who did this? He did this.
If you would use “him” instead, used “whom.” ex: Whom are you writting the letter for? I’m writting the letter for him.
Just remember the “M.” If you would use “hiM” from the answer, you would use “whoM” for the question.
Sometimes you just have to be grateful they don’t do it with “you” … otherwise we’d be even more confused deciding if we needed to say “you” or “youm” …
There are some people who say “youm” is a place in Manchester (Hulme is sometimes pronounced Youm)
don’t worry, colin. i think there’s a club starting. maybe you should join it. i did.
(not that i wouldn’t like to know how to use the word.)
Yeah, if you would use “him”, then use “whom”. That’s all you need to know!
I mostly know how to use “whom”– but there are cases where the rules seem to break down. Is it “I want to marry whoever will make me the most happy,” or “I want to marry whomever will make me the most happy?” “Who” is used for subjects (people who are doing something) and “whom” is used for objects (people who are having something done to them). The person who will make me the most happy is both an object and a subject in that sentence.
It’s kind of like the question of whether you should say “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” or “let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Either one seems wrong, because the sentence is trying to merge the two ideas “He is without sin” and “Let him cast the first stone,” which use different forms of the pronoun.
Anyway, Colin’s lucky he doesn’t speak German. In German, there are three options: “who” is “wer,” and “whom” is either “wen” or “wem.” In fact, every pronoun has not only two forms (like “he” and “him”) but three (“er,” “ihn” and “ihm.”) Which one you use depends not only on object vs subject, but also which verb you’re using, and sometimes which prepositions.
And just like ‘whom’, they’re all slowly dying .__.
Its just the dative singular. The dative plural reverts back to ‘who’.
I can’t always use ‘whom’ properly, which is bad…
But got my book today, which is great!!!!
Aww. You guys have no idea how much this kind of confessions compliment us non-natives! I’ve studied hard to learn the grammar and yay, language shows once again it’s true nature of constant change. (OMG I actually know how to use a structure that is to-be archaic! <3)
hahah yes! i have been waiting for guilty spoon to make an appearance again xD
by the looks of it, the easiest way is to replace him/her with whom, not getting mixed up with who and he/she:
“to whom it may concern”
-it may concern him/her
“who will be troubled”
-he/she will be troubled
Don’t worry, no-one will notice – no-one really says “whom” anymore, it’s mostly written down.
Oh and also – THE LAST PANEL IS SO CUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!!! “SO guilty.” it needs to be a wallpaper.
you and me both Colin!
I’m on your side Colin! I have no idea how to use the word “Whom” either!
Which is why I live in the USA, no one uses “Whom” here.
As far as I know.
Awww… there is a reason my English professors tell me I have an archaic writing style. =\